Hoofprints and Heartbeats
by hyper-piggie
Summary: It's Horsaroni x Maplehoof, but it's really more about Tavros. Takes place around late Act 4.


Tavros tapped absentmindedly on the keyboard as he stared at the computer monitor in front of him. He was tired of watching the strange earth kids go through roughly the same situation that he and his friends had faced not too long ago. It was all so confusing, sorting out the timelines, seeing through the explosions. He never really wanted to bother them, he was just doing what he was supposed to.

It couldn't hurt to take a break. He turned to the left. Karkat was typing furiously. He did everything furious. Karkat growled in frustration at the earth boy and started to punch to top of his head. Tavros took this as a sign to divert his attention, and continued to look around the room at the other trolls. They were all working on their own projects, with the exception of Nepeta, who was curled up and napping in the corner. Tavros paused to consider this and decided that napping could qualify as a project too. In that case, Nepeta was succeeding at her self-assigned task with flying colors.

Tavros swung his mechanical legs back and forth in his chair. He wondered if this was what it felt like to move his old legs, but he couldn't really remember anymore. He pushed back on the desk and stood up from the chair. He decided that he needed to get out of this room for a while. What he really needed was to talk to someone who would actually listen to him. But looking around the room he knew in his heart that he couldn't bring himself to bother any of his busy friends. He tried to be as quiet as possible while he walked to the door, but his metal feet clattered on the laboratory's linoleum. Everyone was too focused on their tasks to notice, and he wasn't loud enough to wake Nepeta. He breathed a sigh of relief. He would have felt so guilty if he ruined her sleep.

Tavros exited the lab and wandered about the surface of the asteroid, heading northward. He looked up and admired the stars while he walked. There wasn't any grass or cliffs or plains here like there were back home, but it wasn't so bad. There were plenty of worse places to be stuck, he figured. And besides, there was one thing out here that he knew could cheer him up. About a mile away from the laboratory where the trolls were living now, hidden in a large crater, was a rock wall that he had built back when they first arrived. And contained behind that wall was his best friend, Horsaroni.

Getting Horsaroni all the way to the veil with him was a challenge, but well worth it. The hardships of navigating his fiduspawn through the game didn't seem like that big of a deal now. Now that their game was over Tinkersprite was gone and his dream self was dead. Horsaroni was all he had of his old life, and the only animal companion to communicate with. He leaned over his rock wall and summoned his friend to him. Tavros ran his hand down Horsaroni's long nose and smiled. He briefly remembered his plans to put the beast out to stud. "Sorry buddy," Tavros thought, patting Horsaroni gently on the snout, "looks like you're not going to get your chance." His heart ached that he couldn't even properly care for the one real friend he still had.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE! Jegus Christ! Playing with your goddamn fidospew animal like a moron, that's what!"

"uMMM... Hi Karkat," Tavros answered, turning to face his grouchy friend.

"No one knew where you wandered off to so of course I had to go look for you like some sort of fucking babysitter,"

Tavros shuffled his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets. He ran his fingers against the pellet of dried fiduslime he brought to give Horsaroni as a treat.

"Of course I knew you'd be out here dicking around with your stupid pet like a dumbass," Karkat continued, "Why do you even keep it around?"

"Um... well... Horsaroni is my faithful steed," Tavros replied, trying to be as confident as possible.

"Jegus!" Karkat groaned. "Okay, look, whatever, just hurry up and come back to the laboratory, alright?"

Tavros nodded and turned back to Horsaroni. He pulled the pellet out of his pocket and held it out palm open to his trusty steed. Horsaroni devoured the pellet in one violent bite that could have tore the hand off of a less skilled trainer. Tavros wiped his hand along the rock wall to remove the excess of saliva that Horsaroni had left behind. "Next visit," he told the monster as he rubbed it's forehead, "we'll go for a ride, um... if that's okay with you."

Tavros turned back to Karkat who was waiting impatiently. "Are you finally done making love to that thing so we can GO?"

"Uh, Karkat?" Tavros asked as the two trolls began hiking back to the lab, "You, um... you didn't tell any of the others about Horsaroni... did you?"

"No," Karkat grumbled, "Your secret's safe with me. But I don't know why you even care. Everyone knows you play that piece of loser shit card game anyway."

"Thanks. It, umm... it means a lot. That you're not telling, I mean."

Tavros knew he wasn't the most confident troll in the universe, but, despite what Karkat assumed, he had never been embarrassed about the others knowing that he played a "loser shit card game." He liked his hobbies and wasn't afraid to admit to what he was passionate about. No, Tavros didn't want the others to know about his secret stable for Horsaroni's safety. He knew that Nepeta really missed the hunt, if she knew there was a creature from Alterina on the asteroid she would want to eat it. And, although he would never admit it to the guy's face, Equius's fascination with the monsters of their homeworld,specifically the horse-like ones, struck him as disturbing. No, Tavros assured himself, the fewer trolls who knew of Horsaroni, the better.

"Look," Karkat continued as obnoxiously as ever, "I don't care if you want to waste your time playing cowboy with your pet later, but right now I need you to focus on stopping these kids from fucking everything up worse than they already have."

Elsewhere, in the troll's lab.

Gamzee was practicing his unicycle in a long hallway. He was sure that Sollux had given him something to do earlier that day, but he had forgot what it was. But whatever it was, it must not have been too important because no one had reminded him to do it yet. Still, he thought, he should bake Sollux a pie later to make up for it.

Whoa. Gamzee stopped the unicycle for a moment to seriously consider this idea: What if the thing Sollux had asked him to do was to make him a pie. Fucking miracle the way these things work out.

Gamzee turned around to head back to the kitchen when he realized that he really hadn't payed attention to where he was riding his cycle. He didn't really recognize this part of the lab. Oh well, nothing to do now but to keep going and let things happen. But before he would start heading back, he was going to check out this sweet monitor that just happened to be chill'n right there in front of him. He hopped off his cycle and pressed the large pink button on the console in front of him.

The monitor flashed blue to lavender to red to green and back to blue before fading softly into a pink color. It was fucking beautiful, man. You should have seen it. Colors aside, the monitor now displayed a split image. One half of the screen showed a strange platform out on the surface of the asteroid. The other half showed a man in sunglasses lifting a baby out of a crater, and also, a pony. Gamzee watched the man put a pair of tiny sunglasses on the baby and exit the screen. Now all that was displayed on the left side of the screen was a confused white pony in a smoking crater

Gamzee leaned forward for a better look and accidentally pressed the button again. The pony disappeared in a pink flash from the left side and appearified on the platform displayed on the right side of the screen. Then the entire screen erupted into static. Gamzee was finally found three hours later starring peacefully into the black and white fuzz.

Maplehoof would have been just about sick of all this spontaneous transport if she were smart enough to comprehend what had been happening to her. But for all she knew these sudden changes of scenery were just part of life. She carefully stepped down from the platform and walked slowly across the surface of the asteroid. There was no tasty grass or leafy vegetation here, but it wasn't so bad. There were plenty of worse places to be stuck, she figured. Compared to the strange houses, scary laboratories, and flaming meteors she had been on recently, this place was calm enough to be ideal. She was hungry though.

After traveling for almost four miles across the asteroid's landscape, Maplehoof trotted into a large crater. Surprisingly, her nostrils picked up the smell of plants here. The smell of strange plants she had never smelt before, but plants nonetheless, and she was hungry enough not to care about their origin. She broke into a gallop and jumped the short stone fence that circled in the middle of the crater. Under a crude shelter made of what looked like scrap metal and rocks was a meager pile of cut grasses and unusual flowers.

The delicate pony lowered her head to taste the strange food when she heard a terrible roaring neigh. Maplehoof whinnied and backed up in fear. A larger creature had appeared from around the edge of the shelter and was snorting angerly in her direction. The creature was horse-like enough that Maplehoof had to assume he was a horse. True, he was fierce and purple, with six legs and covered in noodle-like tentacles that sounded like horns as he roared - but Maplehoof had no knowledge of aliens or beasts like this, so the only species she could fathom to place him as was a horse.

Maplehoof stomped her hoof and whinnied again. She lowered her head to show that she was not a threat, and waited patiently as Horsaroni circled her, sniffing to try to figure out what kind of creature she was.

Horsaroni had never seen a creature like Maplehoof, but she was similar enough to him that he could read her. She was not a threat to him, and she did not smell appetizing to eat, so he had no reason to stay aggressive. He relaxed his noodles and let a softer, trumpeting sound escape from them. He would let the strange beast eat the grasses and flowers his master had given him to eat. Horsaroni himself preferred to eat the fidusuckers and other small creatures that the master brought him each visit. He had actually been tearing into one before the intruder arrived. As Maplehoof began to devour the pile of vegetation, he retrieved his prey and continued ripping into it's juicy, slime-filled carcass.

Maplehoof munched daintily on the surprisingly sweet flowers in front of her. She was far too hungry to be concerned with the gruesome scene that Horsaroni was making with his meal.

Once she had finished with the pile of grasses, Maplehoof neighed politely to her monstrous host. She stepped outside of the shelter and began to trot peacefully along the stone fence that traced the inside of the crater, curious to see the perimeter of the makeshift ranch she had stumbled upon. Horsaroni lifted his head to watch. It had been so long since he had last enjoyed the company of another beast. He neighed in return and trotted to catch up with her. The two followed the fence in a circle back to the shelter. Horsaroni then stomped his feet playfully. Perhaps this new animal would play a game with him?

Maplehoof swished her tail playfully before taking off in a gallop. Horsaroni raced to catch up with her. For the next half hour the horses ran, chasing each other around the crater and having a great time. When Maplehoof finally settled down for a rest, Horsaroni lay down protectively beside her.

Tavros headed out the laboratory doors with a capachalog full of snacks for his faithful steed. This time he knew that it was okay to leave. Karkat was slacking off too. Terezi had been teasing him so much that he stormed out of the computer area in frustration. Besides, Tavros reasoned, he would only be gone for a little while.

He arrived at the crater in no time because he ran the whole way. It was hard to tell with his new legs, since they never got tired, but he knew that he had ran because his arms were tired. He still hadn't completely broken the habit of swinging his arms in the motion of pushing wheels, especially at faster speeds.

Tavros leaned over his little fence and called for Horsaroni. After a few moments he began to worry, Horsaroni always came quickly to his calls. He used his bestial communication to summon his friend, and in a few moments he was able to see purple in the distance. Tavros breathed a sigh of relief. But wait... what was this white thing following Horsaroni?

Horsaroni arrived at the gate with Maplehoof striding carefully beside him. Tavros lifted himself over the wall to get a closer look at the new creature. Horsaroni took a defensive stance, but Tavros let him know that everything was okay. He reached out a hand toward Maplehoof, placing it gently on her head.

Tavros had never seen a creature like this before. It was similar to the musclebeasts that he had seen, but at the same time very different. He wondered how the animal had got there. He had walked all over this asteroid when they first arrived, trying to find the best place to set up Horsaroni's stable, and he had never seen another creature. He ran his fingers through Maplehoof's white mane and straightened her hair bow.

"I... umm... I don't know how you got here, or what you are but... but you're welcome to stay here if you want..."

Maplehoof let out an affectionate snort that pushed warm air against Tavros's cheek. He smiled and patted her nose in return. "I guess I'll put out some more food then."

Horsaroni and Maplehoof followed him to the makeshift stable where he refilled the grasses and flowers. A thousand thoughts rushed through the young troll's mind. This was going to be so exciting! Here, by some miracle, was another creature to take care of. Tavros beamed with pride as he dropped a few fidusuckers into a corner. He couldn't wait to learn all about this new animal and help it grow into the best creature it could be.

He turned to see Horsaroni nuzzle his nose against Maplehoof's. It was wonderful that they were getting along so well. Tavros smiled and clapped his hands quietly in excitement. It warmed his heart that his faithful steed had company now.

"I'm going to have to fix this place up!" Tavros exclaimed. Now that there were two creatures here it was going to be like a real ranch. He closed his eyes and imagined a great stable where Horsaroni and Maplehoof could stay. They would wake up in the morning, eat the food that he had put out for them, and then run majestically across the expanse of the crater. Ten legs galloping swiftly on the rocky terrain, so fast, they could almost be flying. It was beautiful. Tavros opened his eyes and ran his hand along Horsaroni's side. "You just wait, buddy. I'm going to fix this place up and be the best rancher on the asteroid. Uh… not that there are any other ranchers here but… I am going to make you proud."

"But first," he added, pulling a pellet of slime out for the steed, "I have to go back to work. Karkat will be mad if I don't help the earth kids first."

He lifted himself up over the stone wall and started back toward the lab with newfound motivation. The sooner these kids completed their mission, the sooner he could help Horsaroni raise the family he deserved.


End file.
